samedi 15 décembre 2012

Pleased to meet you

I find the propagation of life to be beautiful said the mother after she had given birth to the one who would kill her and then 6 adults and 20 children some 20 years later.

How many among the casualties were against any gun-control policy? And particularly among the parents of the 20 children, how many were pro-gun? Theseonesare moral accomplices of the shooting of their own children then.

This must come to an end, so we hear every time this sort of tragedy happens but the perpetrator of the next one is already alive and his future victims are alive too, waiting to meet their fate, praying Jesus in their churches that he will protect them.

The killer at one time was as young as today's victims, just who's who, knowing full well that the children who have died today and the survivors as well wouldn't have turned saints but another bunch of the usual mix of good guys and bastards humanity is made of.

Who can assure that among the 27 victims, none would have killed anybody in one's life, including future soldiers, drivers, rapists whatever?

Those who voluntarily perpetuate life tacitly accept that their children may well be victims of evil whatever the form it dons, they make the wager that yes someone will meet apocalypse on earth but that it will be the neighbour, who just happens to be another human being, but as long as it's not me...

No one knows what will become of the newborn they have. If the parents are losers, they may well bring up a loser. If they are good at upbringing, they could have brilliant offspring. But nothing is certain. Apparently this mass murderer has a brother who is succeeding at university. How can you explain that?

One thing I have noticed over decades in the U.S. is that these mass murderers are almost always white males. I haven't troubled to look up all the cases, but that is what stays in my memory. Blacks or Chicanos get murdered more often, but it is usually gang related or domestic violence.

Also most serial killers seem to be white males. I don't have an idea about what has happened to make them that way.

There are around 12,000 gun killings in the U.S. each year and there are around 18,000 gun suicides, at least according to the last statistics I read.

Your position apparently is that of those who hold that the world is a mix of good and sometimes evil, good being by far the main constituent of life, only occasionally being marred by the apparition of evil.

C'est ce que l'on appelle l'approche spontanée et naïve (no offence intended, it's just that it is the common accepted term to describe the spontaneous outlook on these issues of morality) de ces thèmes.

I have already given an argument some weeks ago: just think of the physical pain we are prone to suffer from: absolutely nothing can compare with the intensity of our pains.

Suffering is positive (not in the moral sense of the word of course) because it makes itself feel whereas good is not. You don't feel you're in a good health, you're just happy not to be sick and to not suffer.

We can see and we don't realize most of the time and when we do we're just happy not to be blind. Should blindness strike, we would be in a permanent state of despair and moral suffering and physical inferiority for the rest of our life.

No moments of peace and tranquillity in any given existence can make up for the agonizing pains the parents who have lost their children the other day (and more than 20 children have died in the US on the 13th of December 2012) are going through now and till the end of their days.

On the other hand, I'm not trying to convince anybody; just being surprised and in complete disarray with awe and horror when evil strikes is a consequence of being unrealistic in my view.

As I wrote, it's a wager which is unconsciously made par the parents. C'est plus sûr qu'au loto though where your chances to win are 1/ >13 million. There are far more chances that any newborn will be another bastard or an a.hole than a good person, an artist not to mention a saint.

There are indeed many, many, many more idiots and bastards in the history of humanity than saints and geniuses...

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As to the predominance of white males among mass murderers, I wonder if it hasn't to do with the militaristic ideology the US baths in.

The US is basically a white male's fabrication in which Blacks and Latinos had no say historically speaking.

Blacks and Latinos also are not descendants of the Anglo-Saxon myth of invulnerable warriors armed to the teeth heading straight to the Walhalla after they've committed their deeds...

Note how many of the mass murderers commit suicide at the end of their murderous path.

Your position apparently is that of those who hold that the world is a mix of good and sometimes evil, good being by far the main constituent of life, only occasionally being marred by the apparition of evil.

Good and evil are both constituents mixed equally, mais oui. It's just that Anijo la borrachera prefers to play with the good, and enjoys a mixed drink.

Evil is especially in the realm of religion. Former Republican presidential and Jesus Freak, Mike Huckabbe, and some evangelical ministers have blamed the crime on the removal of Jesus, God, and prayer from the schools.

Another example of attributing disasters to a supposed immorality for which God punishes us, or at least some.

The other evil that comes out of this is the argument that we should arm teachers to be prepared to respond. Forget that the guns are probably in a drawer or cabinet, probably locked to prevent students from playing with them. Also forget that a teacher may go whacko and use the arm against the students.

So you have this support of ideological evil that is the basis of evil in practice.

Flocon, a bit off topic but ARTE has shown a documentary called "740 Park Ave" which examines the takeover of politics by the richest since the 1970's. It also shows the role of that evil Ayn Rand in the policies of Republican politicians like Paul Ryan the former vice-presidential candidate. It is very informative on what has gone drastically wrong with the American system of government.

Mostly the fault of Republicans, but also of some powerful Democrats. ARTE may replay it as it often does or maybe it can be seen on their site. They often have free view for a week.

Some governor (that of Connecticut?) said recently that the Devil had come to Newtown. The fallen angel is the Christian human representation of evil and an image easy to understand for believers who can then put the blame on a human face whereas it is impossible to ascribe responsibility to concepts.

Isn't it funnier to burn "witches" on the stake rather than accept one's own part of evil?

Early human hunters had to work in coordinated teams to be successful, like lions today. Killing each other would seem to be counter-productive. Humans then discovered agriculture which could support larger populations. At some time a division of labor was probably found to be more productive. Then there came to be surpluses of food. Someone had to organize this more complex structure.

Somewhere along the line came what we now call class divisions. Some clever persons probably found methods of getting hold of some of this wealth without having to do the work. So rulers and priest or shaman castes developed. Since there was surplus production, they may well have been willing to kill rivals to maintain their dominance and privilege. Is this when evil entered human society?

Those two castes could work together with the priests pretending to understand the arbitrariness of nature and creating imaginary beings that were supposed to be beyond the ken of common people. Obeying the priests and following rituals and making sacrifices to regulate the unstable forces of nature were imposed on the population.

If people opposed the imposition of these rites and rituals, as well as the tributes they had to pay to the ruling castes, they may well have been labeled witches, sorcerers, or an early form of satanists. Thus creating the idea of evil would serve the purposes of those in charge.

It would be that dissidents were not only enemies of the rulers, but were so because they were evil. In this construction then, evil is a direct result of the creation of religion which itself arose from class society. Inevitably the murderous behavior of the rulers and priests would extend to the society as a whole.

I don't care to go on over details how rebellions started and led to kingdoms and empires competing with and destroying one another. I am just trying to explore the origins. Emperors would commit mass murder for no apparent reason. Today we have common individuals who do it for unknown reasons.

I am already fed up with different American news media all speculating on the mental state of the evil-doer in the school case. So far they know little or nothing about it. However they seem eager to place the blame, as always, on one "sick" individual. Rarely does the mass media explore the fact that the person is a product of his and their society. He didn't suddenly become a killer at 20 years old. There is a social as much as a personal history leading up to the crime.

If there is evil in us all, which is likely the case, it may be a little in our genes, but I think it is mostly societal and mostly the religious aspect of our society.

With every newborn a new world appears and the whole process starts again from scratch: To the newborn, there is no distinction between h/h and the outer world and the years of education h/s will go through is to teach h/h to tame h/h killing instincts and to put them on leash.

The process very often fails to an abysmal degree and ends up with the newborn turning havoc and going into killing spree.

Only in the US it is possible to provide would be killers with the means and tools to realize their murderous tendencies but evil hasn't come down on them from outside, the seed lives within each of us and comes down from generation to generation.

The guy in Newtown killed his mother and one would think he also killed the origin of what happens but his father is also at the origin of the killing as well as the grand-parents and great-grand-parents etc. ad infinitum since all the thousands and dozens of thousands + of ancestors the killers is the ultimate output (of ?) have their share of responsibility in the death of such 5 year old girl in the school.

Time is irrelevant here, there is a continuum in the lineage of everyone of us.

One (or several) of my ancestors in the Middle Ages or during the age of the Celts most probably have maimed and killed some other human beings and the same goes for all of us.

Maybe the seed exists in all of us but I think that is a minor point. What it needs is the environment and the nutrition to develop. I don't point the blame to the parents or their genetic heritage who apparently raised another child with no such problems.

What is the difference between the two brothers? This is where I think other societal influences come to play. I definitely agree with you about the U.S. giving the tools for murder to what might be called "defective" individuals.

A major U.S. news network commentator made the comparison with an event in China. The same day a guy entered a classroom and attacked and wounded 22 children. None of them died because the guy only had a knife. He couldn't get hold of a gun, much less a war gun.

Is 403 worse than 404? I've liked Roy Zimmerman for years now and am surprised I never mentioned him. Here are a couple of others, Neal Gladstone and a topical song by Weird Al Yankovic Al has done many parodies of popular songs.

Flocon, I like that song, and it reminds me a bit of the Talking Heads. I never use German and I was surprised that I understood most of the lyrics. My German friends tell me I should take it up again.

Anijo, I've always liked David Byrne and the Talking Heads when there was a sort of renaissance of pop music in the late 70's with also Devo, Pere Ubu, The Ramones, Blondie, Television, and so many others.

Byrne also introduced foreign singers to America with his label Luaka Bop and helped the spread of World Music. One of my favorites is Peruvian Susana Baca

As regards the Talking Heads and David Byrne, I just have heard these names but coulnd't name one of their songs or even recognize one tune :-(

I couldn't tell why. Maybe was I less exposed to music, TV etc. and didn't care much?

In the 90s there was the Spark I think. Also, there were so many groups and singers I simply didn't know where to start.

The comparison Ned makes between 99 Luftballons and The Talking Heads reminds me of Walk like an Egytian where there's also an opposition between soft singing parts being followed with massive band attacks like here.

To make things even worse, I (almost) never know which group or singer is British or American...

Finally an example of Talking Heads They played at the Olympia in Paris, and I recorded a solo of David Bryne broadcast by FranceInter several years ago. They were one of the most influential bands of their time. Incidentally, I also saw a solo concert by Lou Reed in Paris, at the Foundation Cartier I believe.